Where have all the nurses gone?

The recent nursing board exam was released. There will be an additional 27,765 nurses in the profession. I hope that majority, if not all, should serve our countrymen more than anybody else. I cannot deny the fact that some of them led into nursing courses to go abroad and seek greener pastures. No matter how schools taught these students to serve their countrymen, they do not have the obligation to stop them when they want to go abroad to better their future.

The cost-benefit analysis of nursing diaspora is not yet fully studied. But one thing is for sure—that the Philippine health care is the immediate victim of the exodus.

I respect nurses who go abroad to help their families back home. But I salute those who stay and serve their fellow Filipinos.